For years, Hugh Duffy was listed in the record books as the
player with the highest single-season batting average in major-league history
(a .438 mark in 1894). A reexamination of that season’s box scores recently
divulged that the record books may have been wrong all this time. Duffy may
have actually hit .440 in 1894.

On the other hand, a similar reassessment altered Duffy’s
career batting average from .330 to .324, and most of his other career totals
have also suffered a reduction. Even after the modification of his
achievements, however, Duffy remains one of the outstanding hitters of the 19th
century.

Hugh Duffy (1866-1954) began his major-league career with
the Chicago White Stockings in 1888. Standing 5'7" and slim, Duffy was mistaken
at first by Chicago
manager Cap Anson for a batboy.

Unwilling to believe any outfielder so small
could cut it with his heavy-hitting team, Anson kept Duffy on the bench for
several weeks until regular right fielder Billy Sunday, later a famous evangelist,
was traded to Pittsburgh. Given his chance, Duffy quickly showed he belonged in
top company. By the end of the season, Duffy was stationed at the more
demanding center field spot.

After a solid season in 1889, Duffy jumped to the Players
League the following year and led the rebel loop in both hits and runs. Rather
than return to the White Stockings when the circuit folded, Duffy signed on
with the Boston Reds of the American Association. In his first year in the Hub,
Duffy won his first pennant.

The following year, the American Association combined with
the National League to form a 12-team circuit, and Duffy, a free agent, signed
with the defending National League-champion Beaneaters. Also joining the
Beaneaters in 1892 was right fielder Tommy McCarthy. The two Irish fly chasers
were quickly embraced by Boston
fans for their heady play and became known as the “Heavenly Twins.”

Boston won pennants in each
of the first two seasons the pair played together, then gave way to a newly
emerging dynasty in Baltimore.
When the Orioles grabbed the 1894 flag and repeated the next year, the Heavenly
Twins were split up; McCarthy was sent to Brooklyn to make room for Billy
Hamilton, who had been acquired from Philadelphia.

Duffy remained with the Beaneaters throughout the 1900
season. He then became player-manager with the Milwaukee Brewers of the
reorganized American League. He stayed on in Milwaukee after the franchise joined the
minor Western League. Duffy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945.